Press Trust of India
New Delhi, Jan 27: India’s top pistol shooter Heena Sidhu secured an Olympic quota for the country after she led from start to finish and claimed gold medal in the women’s 10-m air pistol event on day one of competition at the Asia Olympic Qualifiers for Shooting here Wednesday.
The current world record holder and former World No.1 one, Heena shot 199.40 points in the eight-woman final to finish ahead of Chinese Taipei’s Tien Chia Chen (198.10) and Gim Yun Mi (177.90) of Korea at the Dr Karni Singh Shooting Range here.
Heena shot an impressive 10.30 in the second last shot of the final to extend her lead to 1.50 points over her rival from Chinese Taipei. The Indian shot exactly 10 in her final attempt and it was enough to get her the top prize, despite a 10.20 from Tien Chia Chen. This was India’s ninth quota from shooting for the upcoming Olympic Games.
However, it was a bad day at the office for the host country in men’s 50m rifle prone and women’s trap events as none of the Indian participants could clear the qualification hurdle.
In men’s rifle prone event, young Swapnil Kusale finished 14th after aggregating 617.20 points over a series of six shots. Sushil Ghale was 17th, while Surendra Singh Rathod was 24th in the pecking order.
In women’s trap, where only one quota for Rio Games was on offer, Shreyashi Singh lost out in the
shoot-off.
From India’s point of view, the day easily belonged to Heena. Prior to this tournament, the 26-year-old Patiala-born girl clinched a gold medal each in the Asian Air Gun Championships and Asian Shooting Championships in Kuwait last September and November,
respectively.
Heena’s confidence was high as she entered the final as leader of the pack with a score of 387 in the qualification round.
“I was just concentrating on the process. I knew that I was doing well. I was confident that I would win a quota today (Wednesday),” Heena told reporters after the event.